FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS

A HYMN FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

Forty days and forty nights

Thou wast fasting in the wild;

Forty days and forty nights

Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Sunbeams scorching all the day,

Chilly dew-drops nightly shed,

Prowling beasts about thy way,

Stones thy pillows, earth thy bed.

Shall we not thy sorrow share

And from earthly joys abstain,

Fasting with unceasing prayer,

With thee strong to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,

Flesh or spirit to assail,

Victor in the wilderness,

Grant we may not faint nor fail!

So shall we have peace divine:

Holier gladness ours shall be;

Round us, too, shall angels shine,

Such as ministered to thee.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,

Ever constant by thy side;

That with thee we may appear

At the eternal Eastertide.

by George Hunt Smyttan, 1836